Two Hugs, And a Deep Meaningful Conversation
by Luminescify
Summary: Almost two and half years after she returns through the Well, Kagome sits in her room remembering. Souta pops in and they end up having an unexpected conversation that leaves both of them feeling a little better...


**Just a conversation I always imagined happening. Wrote it down a long time ago, I hope you like it.  
>Please review, I'd really like to know what you think.<strong>

**Thank you for reading. =)**

**I don't own Inuyasha.**

**Two Hugs, And a Deep Meaningful Conversation **

Kagome sat on her bed with her knees drawn up to her chest, her blue-grey eyes years away. She interlocked her fingers around her knees and leaned her head on one arm, rubbing her cheek against the soft flannel of her night clothes. They were one her favourites, both the shirt and pyjamas were big, baggy, colourful with a print and completely immature. Pretty much the polar opposite of sexy night clothes like a tight tank top and tiny shorts, or a lacy, floaty gown but they made her remember...

She didn't even realize the tears that pooled in her eyes... One hand went down and idly fingered the hem of her pyjamas as she remembered a night almost five years ago, when a Noh mask, the Mask of the flesh, or the Adhering Mask, had come behind her, desperate for the few Shikon shards she and Inuyasha had managed to collect in those early months. Souta had been there as well, and she had sent him to try and get Inuyasha as the mask relentlessly tailed her halfway across the city. She remembered how she was actually mad at Inuyasha and had stormed into her home, kicking him down the Well to try and actually do well on one of her many math retakes. She remembered the petulant stubborn look on his face as he demanded an apology from her before he proceeded to help her. She remembered how terrified she'd been when half of the mask had stuck to her face and how Inuyasha had leaped up to save her with barely seconds remaining. She remembered being a little bewildered by how 'cool' he looked as he towered over her, robes fluttering in the wind, boyish pride over destroying the mask fresh on his face, the yet-to-be-mastered Tetsusaiga cockily resting on one shoulder.

And as her long black hair spilled over her shoulders, the longest of the curls skimming the surface of her bedding, not quite touching it, Kagome remembered...

"Nee-Chan?" a head popped in her doorway, hesitant yet hopeful. Kagome looked up smiled at the look of trepidation on her brother's face. Once upon a time, he had come in as and when he pleased, lugging around a supremely unconcerned Buyo.

"Come on in, Souta. What's up?" she made sure her voice was light and friendly, and tried not to let on that she was thinking of Inuyasha just a few brief seconds ago.

As he straightened and walked into her room, she marvelled yet again how tall he had grown, the depth his voice was on the verge of acquiring and how, on the face that had only held open curiosity, there was now a good deal of wisdom and maturity as well. _But some things never change_, she thought to herself wryly as she saw Buyo in his arms, disinterested as ever.

"Nothing really... Found myself free, wondered whether you'd maybe want to talk."

She sat up a little straighter and made space for him on her bed. "Sure. Sit down. What do you want to talk about?"

"Um... actually, I don't know. Frankly, I was bored and Buyo's not helping."

Kagome laughed, "No, I can't imagine he did."

Souta grinned and then played with Buyo's ear, his eyes shifting from one thing in the room to another. The silence between them was a little awkward, with them having precious little time with each other ever since the Well opened and Kagome's life was consumed by Inuyasha, her other friends, Naraku and the Sengoku Jidai itself. As he tickled the maddeningly unresponsive cat lolling about on his lap, Souta thought of the three terrible days, almost three years back, when Kagome was stuck in the Well and he didn't have a clue as to what was going on. He then thought of the months afterward, when she'd stay in the shrine, clinging to Well, refusing to believe that it didn't work anymore. He remembered her sobs late at night, coughing, hiccupping and crying out only one name...Inuyasha. He then remembered her silence... absolute, deathly silence, which was so much worse than the crying. But then, because it _was _Kagome, she bounced back. She stopped haunting the shrine, she stopped crying herself to sleep, she went to school, she actually studied for her tests, and she graduated.

He had always been a little careful around her since she returned, unsure of what to say. What was he to do? He was much younger then and even now didn't fully understand what was happened. And what can you really say to your older sister when she loses the love of her life? He felt her pain, but also felt a little resentful at how she was acting. He wanted his sister back and this person was not her.

He wasn't one for deep, meaningful conversations...he was a guy! But now, he was bored... and more than a little lonely. He missed talking to Kagome and generally getting on her nerves. And even though she was sitting right in front of him, he missed her.

He looked up and saw a familiar faraway look in her eyes and sighed softly. "Inuyasha, huh Nee-Chan?" It was more of a statement than a question.

She started, "What?"

"I said, you were thinking of Inuyasha again."

She looked down, "I'm sorry, Souta. Really, I am. I was just thinking of that night, so many years ago, when the Noh mask came behind us."

A grin chased his features and he chuckled at the memory, "I was terrified, really! I had no idea what was going to happen!"

A smile flitted across her face as she asked, "Wasn't that the first time you met Inuyasha?"

Souta scrunched up his face, thinking hard. "Yeah! Yeah, it was! You sent me to get him, but he found me before that! I remember being pretty worried as well and he sounded so confident when he said that everything would alright now that he was there!"

She laughed, "Kami, he was so immature then... I don't even know how I stood him!"

"But from what you had told me, I had this weird image of some really obnoxious guy in my head. He wasn't like that at all... I was on his back, and I think I almost peed in my pants in awe!"

"And did said awe continue?" her eyes twinkled as she spoke, the answer to her own question dancing in her eyes.

"Umm... it _might _have come down a bit when he started hopping about, yelling at you to apologize for some think you said to him like three days before this!"

Kagome laughed out loud, it filled the room and seemed to stretch the corners, and the sound was all around. "It was for such a silly reason, too! I think I gave him a hurried apology, and I can still remember the look of pained confusion on his face... he knew the apology wasn't as genuine as he'd have liked it to be and he was kind of battling with himself whether to save me or not!"

Souta repressed yet another chuckle and said, "But he did, in the end. He did real good. I seriously thought you were going to have that awful mask stuck on you forever and he slashed through that tiny space! I was _so _impressed. I was quite confused at the end of it all."

"Confused?"

"Yeah, well, when he first put me on his back and began sprinting towards you, I thought that he was a really reliable guy... _unlike_ the picture you had given us, might I add! Then, I think I got a little apprehensive of his abilities when he began acting like a five year old! But _then, _I was so blown away by his sword skills, I think I would have readily become his disciple at that point of time! It's a bit _much _for such a little guy to take in about one person!" finished Souta with grin on his face.

"Sword skills?" she scoffed, "That was nothing! You should see Tetsusaiga now, Souta. And how he wields it as well... never seen a sword like that... It can erect a kekkai as well, did you know...saved our lives not long after the whole episode with the Noh mask."

"Aw come on, sis... they were fine to begin with! And admit it! You thought he was pretty awesome after the fight with the mask too! I could see it in your face!"

"Yeah, well..." Kagome acknowledged Souta's teasing words with a reluctant grin and added, "He's a good guy."

Souta lunged for Buyo, who was surreptitiously trying to wriggle away and averted his eyes. "You still really miss him, huh?"

Kagome sighed, "Yeah..."

"Nee-Chan?"

"Yeah?"

He looked her full in the face and with nothing but sincerity in his wide eyes said, "I'm sorry, Nee-Chan, I really am."

A little perplexed but thoroughly touched, Kagome pulled her baby brother into a tight hug and mumbled into his shoulder, "For what, baka?"

"Nee-Chan? You're squishing Buyo. You should probably let go."

Pulling back, she giggled, "Never were one for hugs, were you?"

Tipping Buyo onto the bed, Souta shook his head and hugged her again saying, "Nah. Never was one for killing the cat either, but a hug now and then won't hurt."

Kagome let her arms go around him and she saw once again, the little boy he was in the fierce way he hugged her and she let him cling to her, thinking of how hard her absence, then return and subsequent emotional swings had been on him. She patted his back and he drew back suddenly, and coughed awkwardly, blinking a little too fast, trying hard to rid his eyes of the moisture that had gathered in them. Smiling softly, she ruffled his hair and sat back, waiting for him to comfortable enough to start speaking again.

After a few minutes, Souta sighed and asked softly, "What's it like, Nee-Chan?"

Not pretending to misunderstand, Kagome muttered, "My world ended with not a bang, but a whimper."

Confusion clouded his eyes. "Huh?"

Kagome raised her eyes to his and said, "When I killed Naraku and destroyed the Jewel we were after by wishing it away, it was strangely anti-climatic... I mean, it must have looked impressive to all of you, Inuyasha and I appearing in a column of light and all, for us... In the end, it wasn't a huge explosion or something that tore us apart, but, the Well. I guess my existence in the Sengoku Jidai ended with that of the Jewel. I... well, none of this really explains my earlier sentence, but the thing is... as soon as I said his name, he disappeared... I could see him fading away in front of my eyes. So, that's how my world ended... a whimper of his name. "

Souta's eyes were pained, he whispered, "Did your world really end, Nee-Chan?"

Kagome played for time by twisting a lock of her hair, black as midnight, around her finger. She twisted it until it was wrapped so tight around her finger, it hurt. She twisted it until it just wouldn't twist anymore. And then she slowly released it watching it bounce back into place, just a little bent. She watched it closely, seemingly mesmerized.

Souta was getting more than a little worried. He now wondered whether it was really wise to have opened this particular can of worms... "Nee-Chan?" he prompted nervously. "Nee-Chan, forget I said anything... I'm sorry for bringing this up, really, I'm-"

"It's alright. No, really...just a little hard to talk about all this. And thing is, Souta, that's a hard question to answer... I don't really know the answer. Probably a _part _of my world ended... I don't know. I can't get by the day without thinking about him. Kami, I can't get by an _hour _without thinking about him. But it's not always depressing. Sometimes, it's really, really hard. It hurts when I think of the life we might have had; it hurts when I think of what all _could have been. _It hurts that we never told each other how we feel, even though I think he knows just as well as I do that I love him. But, it's also a lot of happy memories. Inuyasha, Sango-Chan, Miroku-Sama, Shippou-Chan, Kaede-Baa-Chan... Even Sesshoumaru, Rin-Chan and that annoying Jaken... Not to mention the countless people I met there... I've had really amazing times with all of them. I think of all that and it makes me feel a little better. And sometimes, I laugh like we did today, at the ridiculous things we've done or seen.

"And it's not as though I've been left at sea... I have Mama, Grandpa and you. Buyo hasn't helped me, though... bad cat!"

Heartened by the smile that returned to her face, Souta grinned and parroted, "No, I can't imagine he did."

Laughing along with him, Kagome said, "Cheeky... but it's true! He hardly comes into my room anymore!"

Souta cocked his head to one side and looked at his sister jumping off the bed and making a grab for Buyo, who was surreptitiously trying to get out of the room. He felt much better now. Maybe deep, meaningful conversations weren't so bad once in a while. He didn't _really _understand the significance of this conversation, why it seemed important to have it in the first place... but it _was. _And he was now ready to say something to her that he knew she needed to hear.

"Hey, Nee-Chan?"

"Yeah?" Kagome stopped her efforts to drag Buyo back into the room and looked into Souta's eyes. They had a seriousness to them which belied his causal tone. She walked back to the bed and plopped down, looking at him expectantly.

He ducked his head, not really meeting her eyes and said in a low voice, "You know... if the Well ever opens up again, or you even get a chance to go there to be with Inuyasha, you should know that I think you should go."

"Souta..."

"Not because I don't want you here or whatever, because I really do. It's just that now, if you go, I'm okay with it. As in, I won't feel _bad. _I'll miss you if you go, but like I said, I'd be okay with it." Suddenly he coughed awkwardly. "I... okay, I don't even know whether you got what I mean..." he broke off self-consciously, looking anywhere but her face.

Kagome's eyes shone with sudden tears as she pulled her brother into a tight hug. "Souta, thank you. I don't know if it'll ever happen or... I just don't know. But, _thank you. _This means a lot."

Not bothering to pull out of the embrace, he chuckled weakly against her and said, "Yeah... like hugs, I guess one or two of conversations like these now and then won't hurt."

With her brother in her arms, Kagome felt much better than she had in a long, long time. Ever since she's been back, she'd prayed to all the Kami to let her see Inuyasha again, to let her tell him that she loved him. And she prayed that she would give up anything to be able to do that. But mingled in with that desperate, tortured hope was a deep guilt that reminded that she would leave her family for Inuyasha. It was the same guilt that made her feel like a rotten person, and while she had had long talks with her mother about this, it never actually settled her heart. There was always a niggling little feeling that it _was _her mother after all, so she never completely believed her when she said that everything was going to be okay and that no one would blame her for her decisions about going to the Sengoku Jidai, should she ever have to make them.

But now, Souta had helped finally calmed the raging storm inside her that had refused to give her complete peace. She truly believed that they knew how much she loved them all, and this was just one of those things she couldn't help...

Souta allowed a kiss on the forehead before he headed out of her room, stopping his irate mumbles about homework to turn at the door and smile at Kagome.

She leaned back on the headboard, wrapped her arms around herself and remembered. But this time, with a small smile on her face.


End file.
